OK, so it's a little crafty

I have been absolutely horrible about posting my crafty endeavors recently so I am making a promise that I will take pictures of the work in progress on my loom this evening! I'm making what is a mostly straight scarf-type-thing using some of the yarn I recycled and dyed with Kool Aid a while back. I'm quite happy with it so far although been playing with tension and neat edges etc. I also spent an hour in the library yesterday reading through some books on rigid heddle weaving to make sure I was on the right track. My husband was very patient as I explained to him how it all worked and what the difference was between the warp and the weft. I'm convinced he secretly wants to try it. ;)

As a bit of fun this morning, I found a website where you can squirrelize your photos. Now, what on earth is that about? Here is the original article, and here is my wedding photo - complete with squirrel.
Ridiculous I know, but it's still making me giggle. You too can add a squirrel on this site. Enjoy!

Looming on the horizon

Literally! Since I got my little potholder loom, the concept of weaving beautiful scarves, dishtowels, bags etc. has been at the forefront of my crafting brain. Hubby still hasn't found a job yet so funds are limited but I took a look at my PayPal account and decided that I do have a little bit of money to spend on a used loom. Today, I finally knuckled down and found a 20" vintage rigid heddle loom for $35 that with any luck will be here in the middle of next week! I took a trip to the library on my lunch break and flipped through the basics of all 3 weaving books they had on the shelves. I'm really anxious to get started on this - can you tell?

There's only one person I know that used to weave, and she happens to be in my office. When she told her loom (one of the crazy professional $3000 ones), she put a ton of weaving yarns in a box for the knitting group at work in the hope that somebody may be able to use it in the future. Well, as soon as the loom arrives, that box of weaving yarn will be mine to play with, practice and become a weaving master! :)

An il"loom"inating past time

As part of a swap I'm involved with on craftster - sort of an ongoing thing - I claimed a potholder loom to play with. You may remember these from when you were a kid - square with a bunch of pegs to weave between? I know I don't remember having them in England when I was a child, but I've been intrigued by weaving for a while so I figured this was a great way to play around and see how much I'd want to really get into it!

The loom came with a ton of nylon loops, which to me seem completely pointless because it's not like you can put hot things on top of nylon anyway (assuming of course you're going with the original intent of the loom for making potholders). I found a couple of videos on youtube, to get me started and spent the next 20 minutes of my lunch break weaving squares with some vintage wool tapestry yarn in my possession. The resulting woven piece is actually very pleasing and I'm happy with my first attempts at weaving! I don't think I'll be using these first couple of squares for potholders though - more likely to keep weaving a few more squares and then sew them together into something like a bag or pillow. I think that weaving in general has a slightly higher start-up cost than most of the other crafts that I do and I know eventually I would love to make beautiful scarves, pillows, afghans etc. but I may have to work my way up.

Proof that crafters will MacGyver anything!

While discussing fiber arts in general in a forum last week, someone said that seeing as I knit, crochet and spin, the next step for me might be weaving. I told her not to curse me with yet another hobby that I have to find time for! Being me though, I found the concept intriguing and have a ton of mill end scrap yarns in the house that someone sent me that I've been wondering what to do with. I figured a while ago that weaving them would probably be perfect, but alas, I know not how to weave.

I don't know if it's because I grew up in England and learned more than your average kid might have about fiber arts, but I remember learning the basics of weaving and the different parts of the loom. So, while I'm sitting in my office on my lunch break with nothing much to do, I started surfing the web for tutorials on how to make a home made loom. Next thing you know I'm constructing a coaster with some cardboard, yarn (which I always have in my office anyway) and my letter opener, which conveniently has a hole in the end to secure the yarn with and use as a shuttle. I'm convinced that you can hand a crafter three completely random objects and tell them to make something and they'll find a way to MacGyver it.